


The Knife Brought to Battle

by drneroisgod



Category: H.I.V.E. Series - Mark Walden
Genre: Childbirth, Death in Childbirth, Fights, Gen, just me rolling up with my big time sexy headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:20:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29214051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drneroisgod/pseuds/drneroisgod
Summary: Anastasia and Nero meet for the first time after Elena's death in front of the deceased's tombstone. They have unresolved anger, which they very much refuse to resolve.
Relationships: Anastasia Furan & Maximilian Nero, Elena Furan/Maximilian Nero
Kudos: 3





	The Knife Brought to Battle

**Author's Note:**

> TW for some weapons use and death in childbirth, none of which is graphic

Nero knew that Anastasia would find him, eventually, so she would have to meet him on his terms: over Elena’s dead body, the scene of the crime. Sure enough, it wasn’t long after he seated himself near the gravestone that Anastasia showed up in a haze of redbrick and brimstone, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was armed.

Nero adjusted the yellow roses he brought for Elena; she had always liked bright colors.

Anastasia’s voice teetered on the edge of a roar. “Where is she, Nero?”

“I can’t tell you.” Nero wouldn’t play games with Anastasia; he wanted her dead about as much as she wanted to kill him. This was a break that would have to come clean and simple. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” Anastasia drew her gun and pointed it at Nero’s head. “What did you _do_?”

“What I had to,” Nero said, refusing to flinch as she stepped closer. “The baby is out of our hands now, and it’s better this way. I don’t know where she has been taken or who will raise her. But she will be safe from you.”

Anastasia pressed a pale hand to her forehead, Nero’s words sinking in. The baby, gone. The baby—her voice became cold and cruel. “You had no right to interfere.”

“I had every right,” Nero said evenly. “You killed her mother. That child would never be safe with you.”

“Elena was strong,” Anastasia hissed, and it was impossible to tell if the sound she made after was a laugh or a sob. “And she knew how to handle pain.”

He had sworn to keep his temper in check, but the grief forced Nero’s hand. He shouted back, “She was seizing! You should have gone for a doctor when the labor started.”

Anastasia sneered. “You say these things because you are not as strong as her,” she said. “She could have handled it. She would have lived, if you hadn’t cut her.”

“At least I tried something!” Nero snapped. “And the baby lived.”

“If that baby was weak, then it was meant to die,” Anastasia said coldly. “You have only delayed the inevitable for her, Max. She will live, but any strength she has inherited from Elena will die at the hands of your own cowardice.”

“She’s out of our hands now,” Nero said firmly. “She’s free. Like Elena was free.”

Anastasia screamed, “Keep her name out of your filthy mouth, murderer!” 

She charged him, and that was her mistake. She fired, narrowly missing Nero’s shoulder as he rolled, but he expected that. He grabbed her wrist and flipped her over his back, knocking the wind out of her and ripping the gun from her hand. She kicked at his stomach and it hurt, but he kept his knee on her chest and her weapon pointed directly at her face.

They looked so much alike, it hurt. Nero couldn’t help but see Elena in Anastasia’s face, in the curve of her lips and the lines around her eyes. But he could never have confused Anastasia for her sister. Anastasia only understood power. Elena had known something about the give and the take of it all.

“You might need this,” she had said to him, before it all turned badly. She was sweating and red-faced with the effort of her labor, but she didn’t complain. And she didn’t ask him to leave.

“Absolutely not,” Nero said, staring at the knife she set in his hands. “There’s no way.”

“I just want to see her face,” Elena said. “Please.”

“You’re doing fine,” Nero told her, rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand. “Don’t talk this way.”

Timidly, she said. “You might need to light a candle. To sterilize it.”

Nero couldn’t be sure that Elena got her wish. The baby cried and Elena’s eyes were open when Nero set the little body on its mother’s chest, but it wasn’t long after he realized he was trying to save a life that had already been lost. He held the baby, then, and knew what he had to do.

Beneath him, Anastasia’s chest rose and fell like she held a civilization in every breath. He pulled the trigger on the gun, firing until every bullet had been spent in the grass next to Anastasia’s face. She flinched, but she hated him regardless.

“I’m not going to kill you over her grave,” Nero said, regaining himself. “She wouldn’t want it that way. But I hold you responsible, and if I see you again I will not hesitate to destroy you.”

He stood up then and walked away. Anastasia sat up, her eyes burning but her hands quiet. 

“You killed her—you and that brat!” she shouted after him. “Make no mistake, Nero. I will hunt her and I will find her!”

Nero did not turn around. “If you do,” he called back, “I suppose I would never know.”

**Author's Note:**

> To recap, my headcanon is that Nero and Anastasia (who both blame each other for Elena's death) were present when Elena went into labor with Nero's baby (and, personally, I think it would be way more interesting if Raven is not Nero's bio daughter but whatever it's 11:30 and I need to sleep soon so we can't get into it). Anastasia waits too long to get a doctor (why? idk. in my head i just have that weird twin episode from Call the Midwife. that episode was so weird. so weird.) which leads to Nero deciding to take matters into his own hands and perform an emergency C-section himself (contrived, so contrived, but hey, he's a doctor! maybe even a surgeon. just not an obstetrician) which is successful in that the baby lives but is unsuccessful in that Elena dies. Anastasia blames Nero AND the baby (i.e. Raven) for Elena's death which is why she sets out to ruin their lives forever; Nero blames Anastasia because they should have just gotten a doctor or gone to the hospital like normal people.
> 
> And the thing is this is all very unlikely to be a real thing in the real world. but i just enjoy that it's dramatic this way. like, really, really, really dramatic. also for the record midwifery is a skill that takes practice and I do know that I just elected to ignore that knowledge because i like my headcanon ok
> 
> (although i guess that since our heroine up and died i am actually demonstrating that having professionals do this kind of thing is good? idk i am so tired)


End file.
